Adventure Lifestyle Photographer working and playing in the Canadian Rockies

Friday, July 30, 2010

Night Ride

Last night in Salmon Arm I took in a group ride put on by my cousin Steven and his buddy Sutra (from Skookum Bikes). I don’t do a lot of Downhilling in Calgary but anytime I get together with Steven, I get a DH bike and a personal guide on some of the best DH mountain biking lines in all of B.C. The trails we ripped up last night were no exception, and some of the best riding I have ever done.

There were a total of 9 riders and the three runs we got in had everything from steep rocky technical descents to open flowy burms overlooking the Shushwap. So much fun and so fast, I was in the zone and felt better than I have in a long time. The best part of the night though, was riding in the dark!

That’s right, our last run was super late so by the time we got to the last 2km section in the trees, it was so dark you could barely see the trail. At one point I was cruising around an open section and dropped into an 8 foot wide path with grass on either side of the trail while still booking it. My mind started screaming warnings to my hands, “BRAKE NOW” but I couldn’t resist the pleasure I felt from just letting go and hitting the snaking trail at top speed. Green patches just outside of my arms reach started to appear and blurr back and forth, moving side to side with the trail. My body felt motionless only for a split second while everything in the world around me just vibrated like a shaking wet oil painting. And as fast as it came on, this dreamy tunnel snapped away as I burst through trail opening and skidded to a stop with the other riders on the logging road, grinning and for just a few more minutes, extremely satisfied.